Not for Children Only

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Titles in the Not for Children Only Theme:

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• The Classic Fairy Tales by Iona and Peter Opie
• I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

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Little Women . . .

is an enduring book that yields some startling insights into nineteenth century American life when one reads it as an adult. The novel has never been out of print since its initial publication in 1868, and it has been translated into no less than 27 languages. How to account for such longstanding appeal? Jo, in her feisty rebellion against the shackles of girlhood, is a character with whom all readers, especially girls, can identify. The novel raises still-valid questions about options and roles for women and also demonstrates the strides toward equality women have achieved in the past century. The novel was an instant success and became the precursor of the realistic family novel (American Library Association, 1984).

Book Reviews and Information on Louisa May Alcott

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I Am the Cheese (1977) . . .

is a starkly contemporary novel, touching on issues such as government control, the ethics of psychiatry, and organized crime–all topics that were previously deemed taboo in children’s literature. Cormier utilizes a tightly controlled, three-strand narrative to tell his chilling story. Hence, the reader must shift among young Adam Farmer’s first-person account of his experiences, a third-person description of Adam’s life, and excerpts of taped interviews between Adam and a mysterious man named Brint. The novel is at once a mystery, a spy/counterspy story, and a classic quest book in which a boy searches for his father. But unlike Cassie Logan, and unlike the archetypal hero of most quests, Adam Farmer appears to be retreating from consciousness, from a resolution to his odyssey. Cormier uses his reference to "The Farmer in the Dell" in his title in a bitter and ironic fashion. It would be unfair to reveal the conclusion of this novel; suffice it to say that Cormier has been criticized for his bleak endings (American Library Association, 1984).

Information on Robert Cormier and Discussion Questions for I Am The Cheese

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The Wind in the Willows (1969) . . .

presents a fantasy world peopled by males only, free from constraints, demands, and responsibilities. Kenneth Grahame began this book unwittingly, by telling bedtime stories and writing letters about Toad and Rat to his only child, Alastair. It is intriguing that many other famous books for children began in similar fashion. Writing, however, was not new to Grahame. Orphaned as a child when his mother died and his father deserted the family, Grahame was raised by his maternal grandmother, who could not afford to give him a college education. Regretting this, he nonetheless made a successful career in banking and, in his early thirties, published a collection of essays and stories entitled Pagan Paper (1983). This collection, with two other subsequent adult volumes, served as a kind of prelude to The Wind in the Willows, which is, alas, Grahame’s only book for children. But is it a book for children? Peter Green, Grahame’s biographer comments: "There has been much discussion as to whether The Wind in the WillowsThe Wind in the Willows is indeed a pleasure for all ages (American Library Association, 1984). is a book for children or for adults. It is both. For children, a fantasy world that triumphantly fuses disparate levels of reality; for adults, hauntingly evocative language and demure social satire; for both, that immensely potent myth." Perhaps it is this very duality that makes the book so well-loved: while on the one hand decrying encroaching technology and materialism, Grahame lauds the pleasures of sumptuous feasting and bodily comfort. The book’s structure itself seems to reflect this duality by use of alternating chapters: one full of action with Toad and his motorcar, the next a discursive, philosophical reflection on the joys of rural life.

Book Reviews and Information on Kenneth Grahame

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The Classic Fairy Tales (1974) . . .

 

a retelling of classics such as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Sleeping Beauty”, is filled with power and violence. This violence is one reason why fairy tales have been considered inappropriate for children. Bruno Bettelheim, however, argues that it is just these vicarious confrontations with evil that make fairy tales both appealing and helpful to children.

Although more than 700 tales of a Cinderella-like girl have been collected including a Chinese version from the 9th century, Iona and Peter Opie’s collection, with its reproductions of classic illustrations and its succinct introductions to each tale, gives the reader a good sense of these variations.

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Bridge to Terabithia (1977) . . .

a poignant exploration of friendship and death, was written as the author’s explanation to her son of why sad things happen. The novel introduces readers to two sensitive young people, Jess and Leslie, who form a close friendship. Their wish to escape humdrum reality inspires them to create their own fantasy kingdom modeled on C.S. Lewis’ land of Narnia discovered when reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Instead of through a wardrobe door, their secret place is reached by a rope swing over a creek. The swing becomes their bridge to a magical world where the realities of life don’t intrude.

The concept of the “bridge between worlds” becomes the author’s metaphor for her storytelling. “I have spent a good part of my life trying to construct bridges,” she said in accepting a Newbery Medal for the book. There were so many chasms I saw that needed bridging—chasms of time and culture and disparate human nature.”

Book Reviews and Information on Katherine Paterson

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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976) . . .

chronicles a year in the life of fourth grader Cassie Logan, the second of four children in a black Mississippi farming family in the 1930s. For Cassie this year becomes one of awakenings-of coming to consciousness. She begins to recognize racial discrimination, her father’s gifts of dignity and determination and her mother’s gift of the value of education. The author’s use of the first person richly conveys Cassie’s terror of the “night riders,” her resourcefulness when it comes to revenge, her affection for her family, and her increasing pride in her heritage and her land.

The author won the prestigious Newbery Award for this novel and has written a sequel entitled, Let the Circle Be Unbroken.

Information on Mildred Taylor

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Charlotte’s Web (1952) . . .

is a work over which children and adults unabashedly cry as they reach the concluding chapter. It is a book that captures the traditional values of the rural 1950's, the joy of a loyal friend, the pain of growing up, the fear of death we all share, the ineluctable cycle of rebirth(American Library Association, 1984).

Book Reviews and Information on E. B. White

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